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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Star Wars Mini Blurbs

My love of Star Wars is always in flux. Some days I’m just a casual fan, chuckling at a quote that I randomly hear on television. Other times, I am an obsessed nerd-geek, watching random videos and absorbing any news I can get.

This weekend I’ve been on the nerd-geek side of the Force, thanks to the giant Star Wars convention that took place in Anaheim over the weekend, along with the release of the second teaser for The Force Awakens.

Because of that, I’ve decided to make Star Wars the subject of my mini-blurb segment. Mini-blurbs are when I don’t have enough words for an entire article, but I have enough little thoughts to make one big article.

Punch it, Chewie!

Teaser Reaction by Fans

I almost love the reactions of people to the new teaser than the teaser itself. (Almost.) I have eagerly been waiting for my Star Wars podcasts to release their interpretations and reactions to the teaser, and love hearing their takes on what we’re seeing. I also enjoy, to a lesser extent, the YouTube reactions to the trailer. I watched one with a Catholic priest watching it, with the fitting caption, “May the Force be with you. (And also with you.)”

My favorite was seeing the people that were in the audience at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim (SWCA) seeing it with members of the cast. They were exclaiming things like “DARTH VADER’S HELMET!” and “STAR DESTROYER!” but when Han Solo - a character many of us never thought we would see in new Star Wars movies ever again - came on the screen, the reaction was priceless. Many tears apparently were shed.

Teaser Reaction by Me!

It was incredible. I had to excuse myself and hide in a very small room and watch it on my phone, but the scope of the teaser was still evident on that small screen. That first shot of the desert was great, and then I thought, "Hey, that sand pile looks like a Star Destro-IT IS A STAR DESTROYER!" That is now the background to my computer.

Then a voice spoke, and I honestly couldn't tell who it was until the second line. It's Luke speaking! I could tell the lines were originally spoken in Return of the Jedi, but I couldn't tell if they had been re-recorded or if they were the original lines. (They were the original, but Mark Hamill re-recorded the lines and they're reverbed in the background - I can totally hear that now.)

And the helmet of Darth Vader...wow. Of course it would be a melted mess after being in the funeral pyre, but to see it in that blue light gave me chills. And the hand! Is it Luke? Of course it is! And the lightsaber getting passed to Leia, likely.

Then we have shots of the future - of Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Daisy Ridley (Rey), and John Boyega (Finn), and that looks fantastic. Any shots of X-wings gets me excited. The shot of Rey, Finn, and BB-8 racing away from a giant explosion in the background is probably my favorite scene. Rey is running but in control, BB-8 is just rolling along, and Finn is freaking out! Finn always seems to be freaking out in these teasers - I'm looking forward to his character arc.

Chrome/silver storm troopers and cross-guard lightsabers and TIE fighters shooting at other TIE fighters and Han and Chewie at the end just made it great. I've probably watched it a good 20-30 times now. I guess it's too much to ask to get a different teaser in front of Avengers: Age of Ultron next week, right?

Excitement for the Next Generation

I was the generation that already had the Star Wars trilogy filmed and released by the time I was born. The prequels were fun to watch, but they never had any surprises. I knew what was going to happen.

But now I have a niece. And that brings up brand-new possibilities. She hasn't seen any of the movies yet! I am so excited to show Star Wars to her (likely along with my brother - and her uncle). But I want to make sure she's old enough to at least give me some good reactions. When she hears that Darth Vader is Luke's father? I want her to get giant bug-eyes and go "WHAAAAAT???" And I will inwardly squeal and plan her Star Wars birthday presents for the next five years.

Fear for the Unknown

While I am excited and giddy for December, I'm also incredibly terrified. While I wasn't as disappointed in the prequels as others were, now I'm that age (and at the peak of my fandom) where a bad Star Wars movie will ruin my Christmas. What if the "legacy" characters can't maintain the awesomeness that they had in the originals? What if the new characters are jerks and terribly unlikable? What if the dialogue is wooden? (We haven't heard any of it yet - except for "Chewie, we're home," which isn't that great a line if you think about it.) What if what if WHAT IF?

I have all the confidence in J.J. Abrams (I love 2009's Star Trek and don't mind Star Trek Into Darkness), there are so many factors in play that I have equal parts excitement and terror.

However...if this movie lives up to my expectations, then I will see it every day until Christmas, and then drag my whole family to see it again when we're together after Christmas, and then my brother and I will probably sneak off and see it again while we're hanging out!

New Stories Beyond

I am just as excited for the announced book and comic tie-ins to The Force Awakens, titled (appropriately) Journey to The Force Awakens. I have read a lot of the "Legacy" (non-canon) Star Wars novels (most of which written by Timothy Zahn), and now that there is a completely new storyline (thank goodness, since The Truce at Bakura wasn't that great for a post-ROTJ novel). The beginning of the school year (September) will be filled with a new novel (Aftermath) and a new comic series to whet my appetite before the movie comes out, and I will take any new information that I can get!

So there you have it. My fears, hopes, and aspirations updated since my last Star Wars-related post a year ago. Hopefully in the coming months my anticipation will come to a satisfying conclusion!